After my sister, Lori, requested Carrot Cake for her birthday I was on the hunt for just the right recipe. Ingredients had to include walnuts, pineapple, but not raisins.
I have wished a thousand times I had my Mom's recipe--it was perfection. But my Mom didn't write all of this stuff down and I wasn't interested in figuring it out during her lifetime. My mistake.
However, Simply Recipes to the rescue. My sisters thought it was the closest to my Mom's delicious cake. Of course I will never get it just right--I think memories elevate the actual taste experience. I can live with that.Ingredients
Cake:
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tbsp baking soda
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups olive oil or grapeseed oil
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups shelled walnuts, chopped (more whole or chopped for topping)
1 1/2 cups sweetened, shredded coconut
2 cups of finely grated carrots
1 cup of drained crushed pineapple
Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
2 1/2 cups of confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tbsp lemon juice
Method
1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 9 inch cake pans. Cut out rounds of wax paper and place at bottoms of cake pans. Butter the top of the wax paper rounds.
2 Sift dry ingredients into a bowl. Add oil, eggs, and vanilla. Beat well. Fold in chopped walnuts, coconut, carrots and pineapple.
3 Pour batter into pans. Set on the middle rack of oven and bake for 45-50 minutes (shift positions of cakes front-to-back if necessary about halfway through), until edges have pulled away from sides and a toothpick or sharp knife tip inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a cake rack.
4 To prepare frosting, cream together the cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl. Slowly sift in the confectioners sugar and beat until mixture is free of lumps. Stir in vanilla and lemon juice.
5 Once cakes have cooled, frost. Sprinkle top with chopped walnuts or arrange walnut halves in a crown around the top.
Serves 12-16.
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tbsp baking soda
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups olive oil or grapeseed oil
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups shelled walnuts, chopped (more whole or chopped for topping)
1 1/2 cups sweetened, shredded coconut
2 cups of finely grated carrots
1 cup of drained crushed pineapple
Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
2 1/2 cups of confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tbsp lemon juice
Method
1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 9 inch cake pans. Cut out rounds of wax paper and place at bottoms of cake pans. Butter the top of the wax paper rounds.
2 Sift dry ingredients into a bowl. Add oil, eggs, and vanilla. Beat well. Fold in chopped walnuts, coconut, carrots and pineapple.
3 Pour batter into pans. Set on the middle rack of oven and bake for 45-50 minutes (shift positions of cakes front-to-back if necessary about halfway through), until edges have pulled away from sides and a toothpick or sharp knife tip inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a cake rack.
4 To prepare frosting, cream together the cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl. Slowly sift in the confectioners sugar and beat until mixture is free of lumps. Stir in vanilla and lemon juice.
5 Once cakes have cooled, frost. Sprinkle top with chopped walnuts or arrange walnut halves in a crown around the top.
Serves 12-16.
Yummy, save me a piece, I just absolutely love carrot cake.
ReplyDeleteDon't think anything ever tastes the way mom used to make them or as good! We can try to copy but can never emulate.
YUM! Carrot cake is the BEST!!!
ReplyDeleteI too love carrot cake. Do you think this would work as cupcakes?
ReplyDelete